


Not-So-Long-Distance

by heartsdesire456



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, M/M, Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy hated his job. It wasn't the worst job ever, but it was boring. However, when he noticed the man in the office across in the next building dancing, he found something to entertain himself with. When the man caught him watching, an apology via signs in the windows turned into a conversation that never seemed it would end. </p><p>...Until the day the man across the alley wasn't there anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not-So-Long-Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, the old 'signs-in-windows' trope is very popular in other fandoms, I've seen it all over, but I'd never seen one in Glamdom so I thought 'hey, I should write one!'
> 
> It's just a short, sweet little fic to make you happy <3

Tommy hated his job.

There were really no truer words in the universe that those. Tommy hated the commute to work, he hated his coworkers (with the exception of Isaac the mail guy, but he was an exception since they were friends outside of work), and he hated nothing more than his cubicle. As he slid into his chair and lifted off his messenger bag and booted up his computer, he looked around the gray expanse with a heavy sigh. The only good news was that he had the cubicle with a back facing the large, floor to ceiling window, shoved away in a corner. He could spend most of his day facing the window and looking down at the people in the alley below sneaking smoke breaks (and sometimes even more, such as drug deals and the occasional interoffice romance) rather than staring at his screen all day. 

As a ‘sales associate’ at a call center, Tommy’s job consisted of waiting for a phone to ring and connect him to potential customers. He wasn’t a telemarketer, he didn’t have to pitch products to unwanting people, so his entire day wasn’t busy, he just answered calls from people interested in whatever product he was meant to be pitching that week and read them all the information written in the files for the products. If he made the sale, he entered the information and that was that. All in all it wasn’t the _worst_ job a person could have, but Tommy still hated it with a passion.

Tommy had his headphones on (it wasn’t like anybody saw him and looked close enough to tell it wasn’t his headset since he was around the corner from everybody who didn’t come direction to his cubicle) and his mp3 player tuned to a local radio station, hoping to hear his friend’s band’s song played during an afternoon show they had won a song-spot on, when he spotted something as he spun around in his chair absently. He stopped his chair and turned back to the window, turning up the volume just a little as his eyes landed on the man directly across the alley in what appeared to be a small office. The guy was doing something on the wall across from the desk visible on the left of the office and dancing around. Tommy smirked when he realized the guy’s dancing matched the song on the station he was tuned into.

The longer Tommy watched, he realized the man appeared to be pinning papers to a peg or magnet board of some sort, dancing between his desk and the wall with papers and something else in his hand before pinning the papers and coming back. Tommy watched him for a while, grinning when the song changed to Nirvana, of all things, and the man began to jump around, clearly laughing. Tommy didn’t even notice he had started smiling until a hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped, jerking his head phones off. “Holy shit!”

“What’re you looking at that has you smiling so big?” Isaac asked, leaning down to try and see on Tommy’s level. “Titties?” he asked hopefully and Tommy laughed.

“What? No!” He spun around and accepted the paperclips Isaac was dropping off. 

Isaac signed dramatically, leaning on Tommy’s desk for a minute. “That sucks. Thought you could possibly see some boss on secretary hanky-panky going down.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Only you.” He glanced back. “Just a guy across in the next building dancing. It’s kinda funny.”

Isaac gave Tommy a sympathetic look and shook his head. “You poor, poor thing.” He patted Tommy’s head mockingly. “It’s so sad this is your life from nine to five.”

Tommy snorted. “Yeah well, not all of us can steal office supplies for a living.”

Isaac leaned in close and whispered. “You joke but I got the good post-its going for two dollars a pack on the street.” He grabbed his cart and shuffled away as if he was hiding something, earning a big grin from Tommy. Tommy couldn’t imagine a better friend at work.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy didn’t think about the dancing guy across the alley until one day he spotted a flash of red and turned to see the man at it again. The guy seemed to really enjoy dancing. Tommy grabbed his MP3 player and flipped through radio stations on a whim, laughing when it landed on an Iggy Pop song. He saw the guy was singing along, or so it appeared, when he turned to face the window. Tommy was still laughing and smiling at the guy’s enthusiasm when the guy suddenly stopped, freezing in place, and Tommy realized he was looking back. Tommy smiled wider, raised his hand, and wiggled his fingers some, giggling when the guy’s jaw dropped and he immediately turned and rushed to his desk, dropping into his chair with what appeared to be an absolutely mortified expression on his face. 

Tommy didn’t see him dancing again any of the times he looked up. He caught the guy looking over more than once so when he was getting some print outs ready to go to the shredder, an idea struck him. Tommy flipped one of the reports over and grabbed a permanent marker from the desk. He hoped that he could write big enough so the man could read it when he wrote, “DON’T MIND ME!” and grabbed the tape off his desk, rolling over to tape it to the window directly behind his head.

When he came back from lunch, he glanced and was surprised to see a sign reading, “SORRY FOR DISTRACTION” hanging in the window of the office where the man was sitting at his desk appearing to actually work. 

Tommy hung one more sign before he had to take a call which offered, “WELCOME ALL POSSIBLE DISTRACTION.” When he got off the phone and looked back to see if there was a reply, the office was dark and the other sign still in the window. He was a little sad he couldn’t get a conversation going, but all in all he called it an interesting day at the office.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next day, Tommy was in for a few hours before he happened to glance out the window and saw there was a new sign in the other office. He leaned against the glass and grinned. The man himself was sitting at the desk, but his sign read, “IT FIGHTS AWAY BOREDOM” with a smiley face on it.

Tommy laughed and grabbed paper and a marker, uncapping it with his mouth to write a response. “WATCHING YOU FIGHTS BOREDOM TOO”, he wrote, wheeling over to tape it up, taking his old sign down to throw away.

During his break he looked over and saw a new sign. “THAT’S A LITTLE CREEPY”. Tommy looked up and smiled when he spotted The Guy was still rubbing at the tape. He looked up and saw Tommy watching and grinned bashfully.

Tommy held up a finger then grabbed a sheet of paper, scribbling quickly. “JUST HAVE BORING JOB” is what he wrote before holding it up to the glass. He saw the guy read it and laugh bright and openly. He pulled his sign off the wall and wrote something before turning it around.

“ME TOO. WHAT’S YOURS?”

Tommy flipped the sheet over and scribbled, pressing it against the glass once it read, “CALL CENTER. ANSWER PHONES= SELL SHIT.” 

The guy made a dramatic face and went to grab another sheet of paper, running back with it in his hand. Tommy watched eagerly as the guy wrote then turned to hold it up. “BILLING FOR ME. MATH SUCKS.” As Tommy watched Adam flipped the page over to write something before holding it up. “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

Tommy started to grab his marker again, only to stop when his phone rang and he heard his boss shout, “Ratliff, this one’s on you!” from the office at the other end of the room. He sighed and slid back to his desk to answer his phone. He glanced back at the window and hoped the guy didn’t think he was blowing him off.

It wasn’t until a couple hours after lunch that he looked back and noticed the name sign had been taped into the window. He grabbed some paper and wrote his name before putting it in the window. The guy was pacing but not looking out the window so he only hoped he would notice before Tommy’s shift ended.

Sure enough, it was just light enough outside when he finished to see a reply hung in the window. “HI TOMMY I’M ADAM.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Within a week of randomly hanging notes with spare bits of information to entertain each other and themselves, Tommy got an idea to save paper. He showed up at work with a suction cup hook and a whiteboard on a chain. He hung the clear suction hook on the window and then tested it, delighted to see the white board hung flat and the suction cup held its weight. It was also bigger so he didn’t have to limit his words as much.

He looked across the gap and smiled when he saw Adam’s first sign already up. “GOOD MORNING” completely with a smiley face. 

Tommy uncapped the dry erase marker on his desk and scribbled his reply. “MAYBE FOR YOU. ROOMMATE HAD DATE. LOUD DATE.”

As soon as he hung it up and looked to see where Adam was in his office, he noticed Adam standing at the window with a mug in his hand watching Tommy. Tommy burst out laughing when Adam appeared to choke on his coffee and spit it back into his cup. Adam held up one finger then shuffled quickly to his desk. Tommy could see Adam was barefoot once again. He had asked before about it when he saw Adam’s bare feet on the desk and Adam told him he rarely wore shoes if he didn’t have to, and since he was in his office alone, he didn’t have anybody to see his toes. Adam came back and held up a sign in the glass. “THANK GOD I LIVE ALONE.” Tommy made a grumpy face and Adam flipped it over. “MARKER BOARD= GOOD IDEA.”

Tommy wiped off the surface and write a new message. “YOU SHOULD GET ONE. SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT.”

Adam gave him a thumbs up, then waved before heading over to his desk, presumably to get started with his work day.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy groaned as he _finally_ got off the phone. He looked at the order he’d filled in online and shook his head. He _really_ hated his job. He glanced up and saw Adam at his desk and rolled over to his board in the window. He wiped it clear of its last message and grabbed the marker. “I REALLY HATE MY JOB!” he wrote, completely with a frowny face.

After he had finished entering the data and sending, he looked out the window and saw a sign waiting for him on Adam’s own marker board. “I KNOW THE FEELING.” Tommy looked into the office and saw Adam standing at the tack board, looking at whatever print outs he was organizing. Tommy spun around in his chair once before picking up the marker again.

“WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?” he asked, spinning absently and all around avoiding work. When he glanced over, he spotted Adam writing a reply. He stopped at the window and waited, watching until Adam put the sign back up.

“I WANTED TO BE AN ACTOR. I SING AND DANCE AND LOVE TO PLAY PRETEND.” Tommy looked at Adam’s head over the sign and smiled when Adam made a face and shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ manner.

Tommy took his sign down and started his message. “HOW DID YOU END UP IN DOING BILLING THEN?”

Adam made a face when he read it and started on his own message with a strange fervor. When he hung the sign again Tommy was surprised. “I ACTED IN MUSICALS BUT NEVER MADE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE A CAREER.” Adam didn’t seem like the kind of person to give up so Tommy hadn’t expected that.

“YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY WITH A CAREER. OTHERWISE IT’S JUST A JOB.” Tommy watched Adam read his message and adopt a smile that looked almost sheepish. 

Adam gave Tommy a long look and then began to write. “WHAT ABOUT YOU THEN?”

Tommy groaned and made a show of ‘collapsing’ in his chair. “UGLY BOYS IN SHITTY BANDS DON’T MAKE GOOD ROCK STARS.”

Adam made a disapproving face at Tommy and quickly scribbled on his board before holding up, “YOU’RE PRETTY DON’T BLAME YOUR FACE.”

Tommy double-checked Adam’s message then shot him a look that mirrored the sign he hung up, “WTF?”

Adam looked uneasy and quickly apologized. “I’M SORRY IF YOU DON’T LIKE PEOPLE CALLING YOU PRETTY.”

Tommy shook his head quickly, holding up a hand to stop Adam from standing. “NO IT’S FINE I JUST DIDN’T AGREE.” Before Adam could reply Tommy erased the message and wrote another. “I’M SHORT AND BAD SKINNY. WHY SHOULD A KEN DOLL CALL ME CUTE?”

Adam laughed visibly when he read Tommy’s reply. Within seconds his was up. “DID YOU MEAN ME AS A KEN DOLL?”

Tommy nodded and put together his reply. “YOU’RE TALL, BROAD SHOULDERED, AND I CAN SEE YOUR MANLY JAW FROM HERE.”

“AWW THANK YOU YOU’RE SO SWEET,” was the reply Adam hung up, only to be distracted from waiting on Tommy’s reply by what Tommy could only assume was his phone ringing as he watched Adam stand and walk back to his desk. Tommy sighed and rolled back to his desk sad that his little break was over.

Adam was quickly becoming the best part of Tommy’s day.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
One morning, the first Tommy saw of Adam he looked sad. Tommy wasted no time asking why. When Adam finally saw it and replied, Tommy felt a strange urge to hug him (even if he was two windows and a four story drop away). “MY EX IS ENGAGED AND I FEEL LIKE A JERK FOR HATING HIM FOR IT.”

Tommy cringed sympathetically and wrote his reply. “IM SORRY. WAS IT A BAD BREAK UP?”

Adam made a dramatic, shoulder-heaving sigh just for Tommy’s benefit and shook his head before hanging his own sign. “WE’RE BEST FRIENDS NOW. I’M JUST JEALOUS HE FOUND LOVE AGAIN AND I CAN’T.”

Tommy nodded with a dramatic pout. “I KNOW THAT FEELING. BROKE UP SIX MONTHS AGO. NO LUCK SINCE.”

Adam dramatically fell into his chair and rolled back before using his feet to pull himself back to the window. Tommy laughed at his dramatics, his laughter trailing off when the sign came up. “FOUR YEARS SINCE BREAK UP. NOTHING PAST A FEW DATES BEFORE HIM OR SINCE.”

Tommy honestly hurt for Adam. He couldn’t imagine how Adam had to feel if his _only_ love in his life so far had found someone to get engaged to if Adam couldn’t even find someone to be with. Tommy bit his lip and hung his sign almost reluctantly. “WISH I HAD SOMETHING TO SAY TO MAKE YOU SMILE RIGHT NOW.”

Much to his surprise, Adam managed the only _real_ smile he’d seen all morning and shook his head as he took down his board to write a new message. “FACT YOU CARE MAKES ME SMILE.”

Tommy gave him a big grin in return. “HAPPY I COULD HELP.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy got off the phone and turned out of habit to look at Adam’s window and was amused to see him dancing around, clearly singing his head off. Tommy grabbed his marker and went to the board. “DOES THE SINGING ANNOY YOUR COWORKERS?”

A little while later, he looked back just in time to see Adam leaving a reply. “STORAGE ROOMS ON BOTH SIDES OF OFFICE.”

Tommy giggled and replied. “I WISH I COULD HEAR YOU SING.”

“I’M PRETTY GOOD,” Adam replied. Tommy gave him an obvious eye roll and quickly replied.

“SURE OF YOURSELF THERE?”

“JUST CONFIDENT IN MY ONE GOOD ABILITY,” Adam responded.

Tommy couldn’t help the way his stomach clenched and his heart fluttered at the big, goofy smile on Adam’s face just over the top of the sign.

“YOU’RE UNLIKE ANYBODY I’VE EVER MET. IT’S AWESOME.”

Adam’s reply was quick too. “YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH THE COOLEST PERSON I’VE MET TOO.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy got to work one day just in time to see Adam hanging a sign. When he got to the window his heart stopped and then began to beat wildly. “WE SHOULD HANG OUT SOME TIME. THIS WINDOW THING IS GETTING OLD.”

Tommy couldn’t move fast enough to get his marker and begin to write. “DEFINITELY! WHEN?”

He saw a mirrored breathless smile on Adam’s face as he read the message. Adam did a little happy dance that warmed Tommy from the inside out, only to stop when the door opened behind him. Tommy watched as Adam began apologizing and then went to follow the man out. Tommy cringed, hoping Adam wasn’t in trouble, and sat down to get started. Adam would talk later. Tommy bit back a giddy laugh when he thought about going out with Adam later.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
By time to go home, Adam hadn’t returned to his office at all, that Tommy saw. The same sign was hung and there was no sign of Adam at all. 

He only hoped Adam was alright.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next morning, Adam’s office was empty. No furniture, no coat on the hook, no shoes by the door, no sign of Adam at all. 

Absolutely empty.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy took the beer Isaac brought him and shifted so that Isaac could sit and Tommy put his feet in his lap. “Thanks,” he mumbled, taking a long drink. 

Mike made a sound from the floor and looked up. “Alright, who pissed in your cornflakes dude?”

Tommy shrugged dismissively but Isaac patted his knee and spoke in his place. “Tommy’s boyfriend got fired from his job,” he said and Tommy glowered.

“He wasn’t my boyfriend!” He sighed. “And he may have got moved to a new office.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “And what’s wrong with that? Just call him.”

Tommy groaned. “I never got his number.”

“And how did you know this guy?” Mike asked, looking confused.

Isaac snickered. “Tommy and the guy in the office of the building next to us were communicating via signs hung in their windows. It was really sweet, actually,” he said, petting Tommy’s knee.

Mike hummed. “Did you think to call over there and ask for his number? Or at least ask where he worked?”

Tommy ducked his eyes. “I didn’t… know his last name.” He rolled his eyes. “Apparently they have about twelve Adams working for the company and ‘the one on the fourth floor’ wasn’t specific enough for anybody.” He pouted and rolled to face the back of the couch. “I really liked him,” he mumbled. 

Isaac chuckled. “Tommy, come on. How much can you like a guy you’ve never spoken to?”

“Cause we did talk. A lot. About _everything_ ,” Tommy pressed. “He sings and dances around his office. Who does that? He hated that job but he always made the day fun.” He closed his eyes. “He made my day worth coming to work over.”

Mike whistled. “Damn, you were really gone for this dude, huh?”

Tommy smiled sadly and rolled around to faced him. “He was funny and sweet without even speaking in person. How is that possible?” He groaned. “Plus he was a total Ken Doll. Well, if a Ken Doll was rock star, maybe,” he admitted with a grin. “He wore this leather jacket that showed off his broad shoulders, and he was so tall. Long legs, broad shoulders, and a jawline and face like a Greek god. Fucking gorgeous.” He sighed dramatically and pouted. “The cutest guy I’ve ever seen was amazing and _liked me_ and now I’ll never see him again,” he whined, flopping back against the back of the couch, tugging a pillow over his head. 

Isaac tapped his ankle. “You okay?”

Tommy shook his head (what little of it they could see) and whined, “Just leave me to die.” Isaac just rolled his eyes and patted Tommy’s leg.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Isaac watched Tommy gazing mournfully at the empty window across the alley every time he passed him at work. He found him curled up on the couch watching TV bundled in blankets all alone whenever he went over to his and Mike’s place to visit. He even saw him heaving heavy sighs while they were on their way to a club to do a show, when he normally would be bouncing with energy. 

All in all, Tommy seemed to be legitimately heartbroken, even if he’d only communicated via signs through windows with his missing man.

Tommy was asleep on the couch when he showed up and nodded for Mike to follow him into the next room. “What’s up?” Mike asked and Isaac glanced back into the living room at Tommy before turning back.

“I think we should find Tommy’s dude,” he started. Mike started to argue but he held up a hand. “No really, we can do it like some ‘girl on a train’ thing. We can put up some signs or put something in a newspaper. It would be really neat if we could find his Ken Doll, don’t you think?” he asked.

Mike looked out at Tommy then sighed. “Well, it can’t hurt. I just hope we don’t piss him off on accident.”

Isaac shook his head. “No way, it’ll be great, you’ll see!” He rubbed his hands together as if plotting a master plan. “Just watch this.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy didn’t notice anything off about his morning until he stopped to get coffee on the way to work and saw his face looking back from the sign just inside the door. He did a double take, swiping off his sunglasses, and his jaw _dropped_. His photo was next to a shadow head with a question mark over it, below which was a message.

**Rock Star Seeking Ken Doll**

_Is your name Adam? Did you used to work on the fourth floor? Did you spend three months conversing with white boards to the man across in the next building? Did he call you a Ken Doll? If so, this may be a message just for you! Our friend Tommy (see photo above) has been completely lost without you ever since you moved/quit/were fired. He walks around a shadow of the man he was. You were ‘the cutest, sweetest, and most amazing man’ he ever met and you made his days brighter. If you’re out there somewhere and read this, we have a feeling you liked him too. Hell, you probably even tried to find a way to contact him the way he did you at first. Maybe you gave up or maybe you just couldn’t find him, but either way we’re here to help! (Unless you didn’t care that much and just got over it, in which case you’re probably a dick and you don’t deserve him cause he’s awesome) Tommy is in our band, Crowd Control, and he’s our bro so we really want to help him out._

_If you are Adam ‘Ken Doll’ Dude-Who-Used-To-Write-Notes-Across-The-Alley and you want to find the sweet little dude that’s heartbroken without you, please call the number below!_

Tommy stood staring in shock for so long, a girl walked over. “Hey, are you okay?” She followed his gaze then smiled. “Oh! Are you ‘Rock Star’?!” she gushed, bouncing. “Oh my God is that true?! I saw this guy putting these up over town and then this morning I saw people sharing photos of it on Facebook!” 

Tommy’s head snapped around so fast his neck cracked. “You- what?!” he squeaked. “This is… more than this?” he asked, gesturing to the page posted up.

She laughed. “Oh yeah, they’re all over town. Going by Facebook people, there have to be at least five hundred of them around town. Not counting the shared ones on Facebook and Twitter,” she explained. “It’s such a sweet story that people really want to help out.” She looked at the photo then at him. “That’s you, huh?”

He nodded weakly. “Oh my God, did they- everywhere?” he asked in a tiny voice, going pale. She nodded and he glowered, almost growling. “Excuse me, I have to go kill my coworker,” he said, turning around and leaving the shop before even getting coffee. Tommy was a man on a mission.

Namely, throwing Isaac down the elevator shaft if at all possible.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After an argument that mostly was full of ‘what were you thinking?’s and ‘we wanted to help you’s, Tommy had no choice but to accept that maybe he was a little dramatic about his sadness if his friends had taken it upon themselves to try and find Adam for him. He knew he’d been pretty much not himself in the three weeks since Adam had gone away, but it just _hurt_. He knew it was stupid, there was no reason for him to be so upset but he _was_. Work was shitty without any distractions. Going to bed was actually harder without being able to think about Adam’s possibly topics the next day until he fell asleep. He wasn’t heartbroken, no matter what they said, but it definitely took some of the light out of his day to not have Adam to look forward to. Adam had been a beacon of excitement in his mostly boring life and he missed him so bad it drove him to distraction. 

Tommy just figured that maybe it looked pretty desperate to post wanted flyers around for the guy.

In the end it seemed not to matter. A further three weeks, a total of six weeks since he’d last seen Adam, there had been no reply. The flyers and their online following had gone nearly viral for that first week to the point a local newspaper even ran a human interest piece on the online endeavors of people trying to help two lonely hearts find one another. No response ever came from Adam. The one positive thing that did come from it, however, was Crowd Control getting one of their songs played on a local radio station after it gained popularity online once people realized their guitars was ‘the Rock Star guy’. After their song played on the radio, they started having more and more people looking at their songs online, more people coming to their shows, and, best of all, they got picked up to play the headlining slot at a club a little outside their usual type of rundown dives and the occasional titty bar.

This place was an actual music venue. It wasn’t like the usual bars that paid them in free beer to play in the corner, it was a club that had live music every weekend and had hosted some pretty great small bands in the past. 

Isaac bounced around, already shirtless, beating anything that stood still with his drumsticks. “This is so exciting! Everything is so cool! There’s an actual _back stage_ and everything! I never thought I’d make it into a band that got a green room again,” he said and Tommy laughed.

“Not my fault you had to bend over and take it from the man and missed out on your rock star days,” he said, tugging him down into the seat next to him. “How much longer?”

Isaac shrugged. “About twenty or thirty minutes, I think. There was one band on earlier, now another band is going on but only for a few songs. Like, fifteen minutes is their set time.”

Mike came in and whistled. “Man, I’ve been out front. The band opening for us right now clearly has some fans,” he said with a wide eyed look. “I’m pretty sure there are more people here to see them than us.”

Isaac shrugged. “I heard they’re regulars so it’s not surprising-“ Isaac went silent mid-sentence when the door swinging open for an employee to come through gave them a snatch of someone covering Queen and _killing_ it.

Tommy and Mike both gaped and Isaac whistled. “Holy shit,” Tommy muttered. “Who the hell is that?! Did Freddie Mercury come back to life and nobody tell me?” he asked, then stood up. “I’ve gotta see this dude,” he said and Isaac nodded, jumping up.

“Hell yeah, that is _unreal_ range,” he said, following Tommy with Mike following them both as they headed down the corridor that circled around to the floor opposite the stage since none of them wanted to interrupt the band or come out in the edge of the crowd. The whole way there, they walked towards the ever-clearer (and increasingly astounding) cover of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. When they came out and walked a few steps down the ramp, Tommy’s sudden halt led to a pile up. “What the fuck, Tommy?” Isaac asked, only to stop when he saw Tommy pale and staring. “Tommy?”

Tommy’s eyes, however, were glued to the singer. The man was strutting around with a playfully exaggerated expression on his face every time he hit a high note, clearly having a fun time putting on a show. In fact, the whole band seemed to be laughing at his over the top expressions and the occasional ass-wiggling dance move. Mike nudged Tommy after watching the singer for a minute and noticing Tommy was still staring. “Hey TJ, what’s up?”

Tommy turned to him and seemed to snap out of his reverie. “I- that’s-“ He turned back to the stage and a small smile twisted his lips as a faint pinkness colored his ears. “That’s him. That’s really him.”

Isaac did a double take. “Wait, HIM-him? As in your Ken Doll?!” he asked, then gaped. “Holy shit, tall, broad, jawline, that’s totally Adam isn’t it?”

Tommy laughed and nodded. “Holy shit, he told me he could sing pretty well. I accused him of false modesty,” he said and Mike laughed.

“Clearly not,” he said, then nudged Tommy. “Go watch the rest of his show, we’ll get ready without you.”

Isaac wiggled his eyebrows. “Just don’t get too caught up if you decide on a public reunion.” With devious giggles abound, Tommy’s companions left him standing at the back of the audience area, eyes glued once more to the man on the stage.

Tommy made his way to the railing of the ramp, deciding he had a better view of the stage from there than he would trying to go into the crowd. The set was short but Adam could _really_ sing so it was amazing. When they finished, Tommy was just about to turn and head back when he saw Adam freeze in the middle of thanking the crowd, his face turned towards Tommy. He looked unsure for a moment before finishing his thanks. He then rushed over to his guitarist and said something before hopping off the edge of the stage and starting straight through the crowd towards Tommy. Tommy was frozen the minute Adam’s feet hit the floor and he was unable to move away from the rail against which he was leaning for anything. The closer Adam got, the more he could see shock in Adam’s eyes. He had a moments worry of ‘oh shit, what if all this public appeals stuff pissed him off?!’ before Adam stopped a few feet away, eyes firmly fixed on Tommy’s face.

“Tommy?” Adam asked, looking completely surprised. Tommy bit his lip and swallowed hard but nodded.

“Hi, Adam,” he all but whispered, his voice small and uneasy.

His fears quickly evaporated, though, because Adam’s shocked face morphed into a gigantic smile- the same smile Tommy had missed so much- and he let out an excited sound. “Oh my God, it’s _you_!” He rushed over and forwent going to the end of the ramp in favor of jumping and grabbing the rail, pulling himself up to hop over. “Oh my God, I found you!” He cried, seeming to not even think before tugging Tommy into a big hug as soon as he cleared the rail. 

Tommy’s stomach flipped and he squeezed back, arms around Adam’s middle. When the hug ended, they didn’t step far apart. “You found me?” Tommy asked and Adam groaned dramatically before nodding sheepishly.

“I quit, that morning. My boss wasn’t happy with my work so I got angry and quit,” he explained. “Well, the next day I tried to call and ask for you, but apparently you weren’t the only Tommy and nobody was willing to tell me your last name so-“

Tommy nodded, smiling ruefully. “Yeah, that happened with me. There were like eight Adam’s and nobody could give me a last name-“

“So you couldn’t look me up, right?” Adam asked, rolling his eyes. “Well I was leaving the very next day and I was so sad, I thought I’d never find you again, and then I didn’t find you before I left to go stay with my brother,” he said with a sad look in his eyes. “I was pretty sure you had to hate me for running off like that. I was kind of depressed some the whole time I stayed with my brother.” He ducked his head sheepishly. “Then I only got back last week. I’ve tried looking for you a few times but I wasn’t sure I’d ever find you-“

Tommy let out a laugh, then slapped a hand over his mouth when Adam looked surprised. “No, no, it’s not you,” he gushed, giggling in spite of himself. He grabbed Adam’s hand. “Swear I’m not laughing at you.” He groaned, smiling through his embarrassment. “I was kind of miserable without you around anymore. Like… you kind of made my days brighter in a way, so I was pretty bummed when you disappeared and I couldn’t find you. Sooo…” He made a comical face. “My friends made these flyers saying ‘Rock Star Seeking Ken Doll’ cause I told them I called you that one day and it had all this stuff about how they wanted to fix their sad friend and it was super embarrassing cause it had my picture on it but then to make it worse, it got online and went fully viral locally-“

Adam gaped. “Shut up, what?!” He blushed. “Shit, I bet you really thought I was an asshole for ignoring that,” he mumbled and Tommy laughed, shaking his head.

“I was embarrassed. They went on and on like I was some princess in need of a prince and then it got so popular! The only good thing is this gig tonight came because they mentioned I was in a band and people started looking into us because of me,” he said, then blushed. “Sorry if that was kinda weird, but they are very weird so it’s normal.”

Adam gave him a sheepish smile, squeezing Tommy’s hand, since Tommy was still holding it. “So… you were miserable without me?” he asked lightly, though his eyes showed it wasn’t as joking as he could hope it might be.

Tommy shrugged, looking up at him through his eyelashes. “It isn’t every day you meet a guy who can make your entire world a little brighter without having ever been in the same room, you know? Can you imagine what it was like to have that end all of a sudden?”

Adam looked into his eyes, blue eyes sparkling, and nodded such a sincere nod Tommy’s throat tightened. “I really can because you made my days better too.” Adam smiled, stroking a finger along Tommy’s knuckles. “I started actually hating the weekends because I didn’t see you for two whole days.”

Tommy grinned and looked up at Adam. “Me too,” he admitted. 

“Yo, Tommy!” Their little talk was interrupted by Isaac coming out onto the ramp. “So, it’s cool you found Prince Charming, but we have a show to play! Come be the Rock Star, let him be Ken Doll some other time,” he urged.

Tommy glowered then turned back to Adam, who looked amused. “Okay so normally I would be more delicate about this, but would you maybe let me take you to get drinks or something? It’s just, you know, last time I didn’t jump at an opportunity I lost you,” he said in a rush, and Adam laughed but nodded with a wide, happy smile.

“Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more.”

Tommy smiled and nodded as he released Adam’s hand and backed up. “Sweet, so, um… after the show? Is that cool? Great!” He turned and gestured. “I’ll just… gotta play this show, but after!” He put a hand on the door when Adam called out.

“Wait, Tommy!” He turned back and Adam laughed, clearly amused by something. “Can you at least tell me your full name so this doesn’t happen again?”

Tommy’s face split into a grin and he laughed, nodding. “Tommy Ratliff, and you are?”

Adam playfully saluted, winking at him. “Nice to meet you, Tommy Ratliff, I’m Adam Lambert.” He nodded to Tommy as he opened the door. “And I’d love to go out with you some time.”

Tommy nodded back from the door as he was slowly shutting and he and Adam shared a smile. “Sounds good,” Tommy replied before rushing back down the hallway, happier and lighter than he had been in a long time.

When he saw Adam in the crowd as he took the stage, Tommy couldn’t help but suspect things were beginning to change in his life for the better.


End file.
